The reported failure of vitamin E to prevent heart attacks may be due to underdosing, according to a new study by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Using new testing methods, the Vanderbilt researchers have shown that previously tested doses do not actually reduce oxidant stress. Much higher doses, their tests show, do reduce oxidant stress if taken for long enough. But these higher doses may not be safe for for most patients to tolerate.

Pectin, a type of fiber found in fruits and vegetables and used in making jams and other foods, kills prostate cancer cells according to a new University of Georgia study.

“What this paper shows is that if you take human prostate cancer cells and add pectin, you can induce programmed cell death,” said Debra Mohnen, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. “If you do the same with non-cancerous cells, cell death doesn’t occur.”

Mohnen’s study, published in the August issue of the journal Glycobiology, found that exposing prostate cancer cells to pectin under laboratory conditions reduced the number of cells by up to 40 percent. Mohnen, a UGA Cancer Center researcher, her UGA colleagues and Vijay Kumar, chief of research and development at the VA Medical Center in Augusta, found that the cells self-destructed in a process known as apoptosis. Pectin even killed cells that aren’t sensitive to hormone therapy and therefore are difficult to treat with current medications.

Scientists in China, Taiwan, and Ohio, USA have created a high-power version of a cabbage-family chemical, which they hope may turn out to be strong enough to fight prostate cancer.

Indole-3-carbinol is a well known product of the breakdown of a compound found in cruciferous vegetables, which are the large family of vegetables that have leaves arranged in a “cross” pattern. Cruciferous vegetables, also called brassicae, include broccoli, bok choy, brussel sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip (greens) and watercress.

Indole-3-carbinol is considered a “promising chemopreventive agent which has shown efficacy against tumors in various tests on animals,” the researchers say.

However, indole-3-carbinol breaks down rapidly in the human digestive system and is too weak to have much impact on existing tumors. It has only “weak antiproliferative potency and is unstable in acidic milieu.”

Hello, I’m a 69-year-old retired carpenter and published writer. I’ve never had a Free PSA reading, only two biopsies and 5 Finger-Waves (and two of those almost made me jump through the wall).

My diet is centered around ocean fish (tuna and salmon), veggies (a lot of brocolli and other cruciferous veggies — cauliflower, Brussel sprouts), fruits (in particular apricots, which are high in selenium), vitamins (E, A, D3, a good one-a-day vitamin), Essiac Tea at five in the A.M. (when my stomach is empty), heavy sprinkling of turmeric on my food (in Ayurvedic medicine of India this herb has been in usage for almost 2 millenia — it shrinks tumors), cayenne (for the capsicum), garlic powder (both sprinkled over food, like the turmeric).

Consuming grapefruit appears to increase risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, according to a study in British Journal of Cancer (July, 2007) (Prospective study of grapefruit intake and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: the Multiethnic Cohort Study)

One quarter grapefruit per day compared to none increased risk by about one third. The significance of this slightly increased risk is underscored by 2 factors — women are taught lifelong to associate grapefruit intake with health and with weight-control (the “Grapefruit diet”).

The factor involved in the increased risk is a chemical in grapefruit (CYP3A4) that blocks the body’s breakdown of estrogen.

Since vitamin C and other antioxidants found in grapefruit are readily available from other fruits, with this new information women can choose to switch to oranges, tangerines, lemon juice, and other fruits and avoid grapefruit.

Swedish researchers report “an inverse association between moderate alcohol intake and risk of renal cell cancer. Consumption of red wine, white wine, and strong beer was associated with a lower risk. ”

But, they add, “there were no clear associations with light and medium beer, strong wine, or hard liquor, perhaps due to chance or differences in other risk factors related to specific types of alcoholic drink. For example, the large variation in other risk factors such as smoking and occupation could explain why hard liquor was not associated with renal cell cancer risk although we controlled for known risk factors.”

The study appears in July issue of British Journal of Cancer. Other recent studies have found that red wine intake reduces risk of prostate cancer in men.

Drinking one or more cups of coffee per day has been found to lower the risk of death from liver cancer in a study in Japan including men and women with hepatitis C and a history of smoking and alcohol use.

Lately, claims of health benefits from consumption of Asian green tea have brought about a virtual revolution in the tea aisles of US supermarkets. Wal-Mart sells numerous brands of green tea plus white and red teas and various flavors of black tea.

So it is interesting to see that in Japan recent studies have suggested a lower risk of liver cancer in coffee-drinkers.

Unless these studies are tied in with some public relations conspiracy to prepare the Japanese population for coffee-house chains (seriously, no evidence of that) they may have a message for Westerners: don’t throw out the coffee pot when you add green tea to your day.